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Each year thousands of people flock to the Energy, Utility & Environment Conference (EUEC), the nation’s largest and longest-running professional and educational event focused on energy, utilities, renewables and the environment — and this year was no different. With more than 2,000 attendees, 400 speakers and 200 exhibits, EUEC 2016 was the place to be for environmental and energy professionals.

Of course, in the environmental world, the view is always changing. There’s no better example of that than the Clean Power Plan, which was the focus of many of the presentations at EUEC 2016.

EPA had a high confidence level that the CPP was on track for implementation beginning in 2022, but not a week later, the Supreme Court issued a stay, blocking the rule’s implementation. And although the stay isn’t the final say on the rule, there’s a reasonably good possibility that the rule will either go away or look significantly different after the court rulings.

Coal Combustion Residuals and Effluent Limitation Guidelines

The Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule and Effluent Limit Guidelines (ELG) were both finalized in 2015, and as such, several sessions during the conference centered on what these regulations mean for the industry and what the implications might be for engineering.

Because most utilities are affected by CCR and ELG — and since the rules have tight time frames for compliance — there’s widely held concern about equipment availability and the ability of equipment vendors to keep up with demand. And even with equipment available, there still could be challenges: Some technologies have limited applications, which means some equipment might not be able to meet regulatory limits. Like the CPP, all environmental rules are under legal challenge and, as demonstrated by the CPP, a court ruling can change compliance plans in a hurry.